Never let the marketers win – Send in those rebate forms!

Yes the forms make you wanna vomit, but the money is YOURS – don’t be tricked out of it!

If you’ve purchased a product which guarantees you money back, fill those suckers out and stay on top of it. Those little bastards are meant to look confusing and annoy the piss outta you. But you know what? You’re not gonna fall for it!

And i gotta tell you, “they” – as in the people behind these little forms – aren’t gonna do it for you. In fact, i seriously think they’re making it tougher and crazier as the years go by. I mean, look at that picture i added here – are they insane?!!! They want me to get a salesperson’s signature in order to get my rebate?! If that’s not meant to throw me, i don’t know what is.

The reason i got this rebate was because i bought a set of 4 tires for the Mrs’ car. And do you know WHERE i bought these bad boys? ONLINE! So, tell me, how on earth am i supposed to get a salesperson’s name, signature, AND employee # (as stipulated elsewhere on the form) from a person halfway across the country? Ridiculous.

But of course, that’s not the whole story. You see, that’s all that it says in the “3 main steps” in order to process my rebate. 1st – buy the tires, 2nd – enter my zip code, and 3rd – mail a copy of my invoice and this rebate form signed by a salesperson (as shown above). Now, if you had only read that part and then stopped as i initially did, the odds of continuing are now slim to none.

And that’s a shame. A shame because had you continued reading on the other side of the page, you would have noticed two stars (**) next to the place where this salesperson is supposed to fill out his credentials. And would you like to know what these stars mean? Well, they mean that this is only necessary IF you bought them in a store aka “in person”. That’s F’d up man, those stars should have been right next to those words i underlined – not across town on the lines people rarely read.

So while i was relieved i didn’t have to finagle a signature out of someone i’ve never seen, i spent a good 2 hours this morning p-i-s-s-e-d. And that’s just not right…piss-poor customer service.

But you know what? I learned something this morning – you REALLY have to read all that fine print, especially when you are asking someone to hand over money. In fact, there are a few things i’d like to share for the next time you go through this process:

Fill out the form ASAP – Important for a number of reasons, but mainly so you don’t forget and/or lose anything! All of these rebates are time sensitive, so it’s good to mail ’em before it’s too late. Plus, doing it sooner than later keeps all the info fresh in your head.

READ EVERY LINE CAREFULLY – So you don’t have to waste any time being frustrated – either before filling it out (like me), or after when you get a note saying it can’t be processed for some retarded reason.

Listen & fill everything out – Don’t be one of those people who just fill out the parts you want to fill out. This allows the rebate folks to happily stamp a “rejected” or “pending more info” notice on it….delaying, if not terminating, your right to the money.

Include your email – Not so you can get spammed (don’t check that box), but so you can get updates as to when your form is being processed and when it’s on it’s way!

Make copies and date everything – All invoices, rebate forms, UPC’s, everything. Be sure to date your copies too, and scribble the date you shoud receive it by too. And if there’s a 1-800 # on it, which there usually is, circle it so you know exactly who to call if it never shows up.

That may sound like a lot, but it’s not :) Basically, just pay attention and don’t forget to grab your money!!! I just dropped mine in the mail, so fingers crossed I did it all right….and that they don’t bitch about a freakin’ signature! Morons.

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Disclaimer

I, J. Money, only claim the thoughts from my head. I am not a banker, CPA, money manager or anything else of that sort. Please seek a professional for any "real" advice. More info: privacy & disclosure page